Non-invasive cardiovascular imagery has become increasingly important in the diagnostic, therapeutic evaluation and pronostic determination of cardiovascular diseases. The development of such imagery has allowed the measurement and evaluation of the cardiac function. Prior to the development of cardiovascular imagery, the cardiac function was essentially limited to visual appreciation of the overall cardiac function based on endocardial excursion and parietal thickening. Such methods are based on the experience of the assessor and have a considerable suggestive component.
Recent developments in non-invasive cardiovascular imagery aim to quantify the myocardial function based on the measure of deformation and displacement of muscles tissue. These measurements, in two or three dimensions, may be obtained using ultrasounds, X-rays, magnetic resonance or nuclear medicine. However, the complexity and diversity of algorithms used may slow down the processing of the data and hence delay the acquisition of the results. Hence, the improvement of imagery systems may gain in accuracy and precision by the development of reliable cardiac phantom model, for instance to test the calibrate imagery systems.